Ms. Tree - Fallen Tree (The Sixth and Final Ms. Tree Graphic Novel)

l put off reading this final collection of Ms. Tree comics from Titan Comics because I knew that once I read this book, I would be done with the Ms. Tree series.  I am so thankful for Titan for collecting this series, particularly since the original comics were published by four different companies - Eclipse, Aardvark-Vanheim, Renegade Press, and finally, DC Comics.  I can't recall too many comics, if any, that managed to continue over the course of several decades through that many publishers.  Most comics, when cancelled by one publisher, are rarely picked up by another - and even if by some chance they are, for it to then leave that publisher and go to a third and then to a fourth is nearly unheard of!  Yet, the character of Ms. Tree persevered, which stands as a testimony to just how well-received and loved Max Allan Collins' and Terry Beatty's creation was, and still is, with fans.  

 

Fallen Tree collects the final stories published by Renegade Press,  including a short story that apppeared in a former collection of Mike Mist/Ms. Tree crossover tales.  The stories are "New Year's Evil" (issue 35), "Like Father" (issues 37 - 40), "Coming of Rage" (issues 41-44), "Murder Cruise" (issues 45-48), "Music to Murder By" (from The Files of Ms. Tree, Volume Three), and "Fallen Tree" (issues 49-50).  I had forgotten that as the Ms. Tree series progressed, it eventually contained less and less pages of Ms. Tree and included a number of reprint tales of Johnny Dynamite, a serial that I never did enjoy.  I was thrilled when DC picked up the series and each issue featured a full length Ms. Tree story in full color.  Yes, I enjoyed the serialized tales published by Eclipse, Aardvark, and Renegade, but getting an entire story in one sitting without having to wait months on end for the next issue to come out to continue reading the story (and let's face it, back in the day, the indy companies were not known for keeping a monthly or even a bi-monthly schedule very well).  Thus, it was a pleasure to sit down with this collection and get to read these stories again in their entirety, without any delays between chapters.

 

The first story was a one-issue tale set at New Year's Eve, in which Ms. Tree takes on a deranged man who blames the health insurance company that denied his wife's medical treatment, resulting in her death.  In some scenes that bring to mind Bruce Willis in the first Die Hard movie, Ms. Tree climbs through air vents, makes her way to the top floor restaurant, and in her normal violent fashion, saves the day!

 

The second story, "Like Father," finds Ms. Tree on yet another vendetta - this time, taking out a crazed crook who shoots Lt. Valer, and then hunting down the man (or woman) who murdered her own father.  This story takes Ms. Tree back to her roots (no pun intended), as she must track down her father's killer, while also rebuilding her relationship with her younger sister.  It's actually a rather touching story that reminds the reader that Ms. Tree is more than just a vigilante, and that she does have an emotional side to her when it comes to family and friends.

 

"Coming of Rage" once again turns the attention to Ms. Tree's adopted son, Mike Jr.  This time, however, he's not in need of rescue.  When she sends Mike to an exclusive, private school for the children of the wealthy elite, little does she know that Mike is going to meet and fall in love with a girl who is also the child of a killer - the daughter of Dominique Muerta!  When two bumbling would-be kidnappers nab Mike and Lisa, unaware of who their parents are, it sets off an entire chain of events that read almost like a physical comedy - a story that brings these two families that have been sworn enemies for so long into a truce of sorts, all because of the Romeo/Juliet romance of the teenage children!

 

The next tale, "Murder Cruise," finds Ms. Tree working alongside private eye Mike Mist (from those famous "Minute Mist-eries") to solve the murder of a woman aboard the cruise ship they are sailing.  Mist is there to do uncover the truth about a friend's death, while Ms. Tree and her employees are there for a vacation.  Soon enough, a woman turns up death by a hit-and-run, Ms. Tree is nearly killed with poisoned wine, and an elderly woman who befriends them all may be at the center of all the violence!  Collins tells this story in a way that each chapter is a day on the seven-day cruise.

 

The short story from The Files of Ms. Tree, "Music to Murder By,"  is an almost-full color, 14-page short story that showcases the combined talents of Mist and Tree, as they have to solve the murder of one of Mist's clients - a man in the music industry who has made any number of enemies because of his refusal to ever release a never-before heard album of songs from his old music group.  It's a fun, quick read with Collins' typical twist at the end.

 

The final tale, "Fallen Tree," actually relates back to "Like Father," as a relative of one of Ms. Tree's many victims comes back for revenge - and very nearly succeeds!  Ms. Tree is shot, left for dead, and must face down all of the people she has killed over the years while in hell, all the while her friends are praying the doctors can save her life.  Ms. Tree gets unexpected help in the underworld, and just as the plug is about to be pulled, she awakens with a message for one of her friends - thus ending the initial 50-issue comic run of Ms. Tree.

 

While I truly enjoyed re-reading this series from beginning to end, it is a bit bittersweet, as I know that there are no more stories to be read.  Yes, I do realize that these collection did not capture every Ms. Tree appearance.  There was the three-issue crossover with Michael Mauser (from the E-Man comic by Joe Staton) called The P.I.s, published by First Comics; there was also Ms. Tree's appearance in the "Munden's Bar" back up story in First Comics' Grim Jack issue 11, published in 1985; and there was her appearance in the Word Warriors one-shot comic published by Literacy Volunteers of Chicago in 1987.  There was also the one prose novel, Deadly Beloved, written by Collins and published by the Hard Case Crime series of novels.  I was hoping that would have spawned a series of prose novels of my favorite female private eye, but alas, that was not meant to be.

 

Thus, I have once again reached the "end" of Ms. Tree, and sadly, if I want more of her exploits, I will hae to go back and re-read this same series yet again ... and again ... and again ... and again.  If only Collins and Beatty would bring her back with new stories (hint! hint!)!

 

RATING: 10 borrowed sun hats out of 10 for hard-hitting, gritty, female P.I. action told with a twist of humor, a mix of emotion, and a whole lot of great storytelling!

 

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #34 - Death Through the Mill

It only took 11 books for Ian McMahan (writing under his pen name, Laura Colburn) to return to the world of Zebra Mystery Puzzlers.  After confronting Death in a Small World, McMahan brings back his amateur sleuth / artist Carol Gates to solve yet another murder - this time in a small town of Vermont.  I, for one, am thrilled to see the return of Carol Gates, as I rather enjoyed her first book in this series, and I was definitely not disappointed with this one - although, I did find it surprising that McMahan literally waited until about 40 pages before that sealed chapter before the murder actually took place! That does not leave much time for crime-solving - but, then again, perhaps many of the clues surrounding the mystery were already in place before the murder ever happened...

 

Death Through the Mill sends illustrator Carol Gates on a potential new assignment: illustrating a true-crime novel for Henry Marston, an author whose previous book took an unsolved murder and gave readers Marston's own solution to the crime.  His new book intends to look at several unsolved murders, not necessarily ever in the public eye, and reveal potential solutions to those horrendous killings - including one that hits very close to home.  Carol travels to Millerton, Vermont, where she learns that not everyone in this small town is thrilled with Marston's return.  There appear to be a lot of bad feelings simmering just under the surface because of what took place decades ago:  Marston's father allegedly killed John Howard's father over a land dispute; years later, Marston left town rather suddenly after a young woman with whom he was in love took off with her unborn child in tow.  There is certainly enough drama in this town to give Peyton Place a run for its money!

 

The author leads the reader through a family rivalry from the past, giving bits and pieces here and there from various members of the Millerton community, and like Carol herself, the reader must put the pieces together to figure out what really happened all those years ago.  Howard was found shot on the Marston's old mill property, the trunk of his car filled with gas cans.  Was Howard really planning to burn down the mill in order to get Marston to sell it to the land firm that was intent on building a ski resort in town?  Did Marston kill Howard to prevent him from following through with his plan?  Why did Marston refuse to sell out to the prospectors, when all the other adjacent land owners had sold out and were waiting to make their fortune off the planned resort? And why did the new land owners just suddenly walk away from the deal when Howard was killed and Marston died just months later?  And how in the world did Ellen Whittier fit into all of this?

 

A break-in at the mill seems like a simple case of an inexperienced thief looking for something of value.  But the stolen antique gun and the shattered picture frame of Ellen Whittier are bigger clues than one might first think.  Then there's an argument Carol witnesses at an auction.  And an argument at the old mill between the Marston and Howard sons.  And, of course, the rather gruesome death of Henry Marston himself - and when I saw gruesome, I mean it - described in the book as the "internal framework was gone, broken, dissolved; it had no more structure than a six-foot bag of strawberry gelatin" (p. 131).  How else would you describe the remains of a human being that was crushed after it went through the millstone?  Or, as Carol herself puts it when she calls the local sheriff, "I guess you could say he's been through the mill" (pp. 131-32).  Too soon?  (Personally, I thought it was a hilarious line!)

 

While the cover artist remains uncredited, the internal illustrations are yet again provided by the talented Sanford Hoffman.  Hoffman seems to have been doing more and more of the internals for the Zebra Mystery Puzzlers as the series progresses - perhaps the earlier titles he illustrated sold better, so the publisher decided to utilize her services more?  Whatever the reason, I have to admit, his work has rather grown on me, and I just love the fact he outlines his illustrations, with portions of the scene overflowing beyond that outline.  It gives the feeling to the reader that the action within the scene is trying to burst right off the page!  All there are clear clues in each one of the illustrations, if you simply know what you are looking for (and since I had a fairly good idea of who the killer was going to be early on, it was somewhat easy to spot the clues that pointed to him - even if I did have the wrong motive!).

 

As a fan of children's mystery series, I was surprised to see not one, but two references to Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys in this particular book!  The first is the obligatory name-calling, when a has-been, drunk attorney asks Carol, "Would you like to see the medal, Nancy Drew, or have you done enough for the day?" (p. 90).  The other reference is not quite as obvious, but it is definitely there.  When Carol is seeking help in setting the stage for her big revelation at the end, she says, "The old mill holds a secret, a deadly secret" (p. 175).  This is a clear reference to the third Hardy Boys book, The Secret of the Old Mill.  I mean, seriously, could it be anything else but that?

 

This book was definitely a winner, and I'm glad to know I still have one more Carol Gates' mystery before the series ends!

RATING:  10 old-fashioned wrought iron nails out of 10 for setting up a superbly plotted murder mystery with plenty of back story, plenty of suspects, and plenty of great reading! 

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #32 - Murder at Willow Run

This thirty-second entry into the Zebra Mystery Puzzler series introduces yet another author and another new amateur sleuth.  The author is identified as "Michelle Collins," but it is uncertain whether this is the author's action name or just another in a long-line of pseudonyms used for this series.  Other than this one and book 51 in this series, I can find no other books by this author (although I find plenty of books out there written by various writers of the same name).  The copyright for the book simply belongs to Kensington Publishing Corp., which likely means this was a house psuedonym.  In any event, Collins only offers two books within this series, and this one gives readers their first taste of art director Megan Marshall.

 

Murder at Willow Run is set in a preppy little art community called "Willow Run" in the Catskills of New York.  Megan Marshall is an art gallery director who is putting together a show for artist Evan Townsend, a young man with whom she hopes to one day develop a real relationship.  The story opens with the exciting news that Marshall has managed to get a world famous art critic, Garrett Winters, to come to the show!  Winters happens to be a long-time friend of Alfred ("Alf") Barnard, who runs the Inn in which the art show will be displayed, and he has agreed to come at Alf's request.  Megan is thrilled, Evan is hesitant, and Alf is confident that everything will work out fine.  However, from the moment Winters arrives, everything goes downhill fast!

 

Collins crafts a horrifically vile person in the character of Garrett Winters. From the moment he arrives, he has nothing but nasty things to say about everyone and everything - from Evan's art (which, at this point, he has not even seen!), to the small town setting, the decor of the Inn, and the townspeople and guests at the Inn.  In fact, the man has nothing nice to say at all!  Clearly, this man deserves to die - or, at least, that's what plenty of people think.  After a rather loud confrontation with Evan in the dining room, with Evan threatening to get rid of him, to a fierce battle in the kitchen with the chef that results in his being fired, to some snide remarks to one of the local women in town, Winters finally takes his leave, going to his room upstairs.  Before long, however, he's back downstairs, demanding a different room, as the bed is too small.  Megan accommodates him, moving him from Room 4 to Room 7, making sure he's settled in and that he has locked his door from the inside before she walks away.  So, imagine her surprise, when she and Alf come up the next morning, find the door still locked with the chain, and after breaking their way, find the critic lying dead on his bed!  The door was locked, the windows are still locked - so how in the world was he murdered?

 

It's a fantastically well-written locked-room mystery that, quite frankly, had me stumped.  The first internal illustration gave me a first thought as to the identity of the killer, but as the story progressed, my thought changed time and time again.  The clues pointing to any number of people, and Collins herself even points this out with the gossip of the townspeople:  "the culprit was variously Evan Townsend, the moody and passionate painter; Claude Monteaux, the temperamental chef; Alfred Barnard for some inexplicable reason; Bertram Van Riper, the man of mystery... (p. 72) - and even this list does not account for all of the suspects.  There were also Grace and Adelaide Wimble, the aging sisters who seemed to have a history with Winters; Shelley Barnes, a local woman "far more enamored of the artist than she was of the art" (p. 23); Quentin Lacy, the rather flamboyant and dramatic director of the theater across from the Inn; Hilda Stanwick, a former watercolor artist whose career had ended quickly after a bad review; and even Garth Hendriks, the Inn's groundskeeper who lived in the upstairs of the barn just behind the Inn.  So many suspects, so many motives, but only one of them did it.  The questions for Megan is:  which one?

 

Honestly, I was wondering if Collins would go the same route as the writers of The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries television show did with their season two opener, which features a locked-room mystery that stumped the teen detectives and nearly made them believe in vampires!  That two-part season opener offered up a rather ingenious solution, and I thought perhaps Collins had taken a page from that show, which aired two years before this book was published.  It certainly would have provided a clever twist, making the killer one of the least likely suspects!  But Collins went an entirely different route, for which I applauded her, as it made it much more difficult to figure out (for the reader).  While the clue on the front cover is very subtle, the internal illustrations offer very little actual clues - one offers no clue at all, one offers a very clear misdirect, two offer a connected clue that you have to really pay attention to catch, and the last two offers the clues that clinch it!

 

The author does reference the use of "flurazepam," which is referred to as "a soporific marketed under the trade name of Dalmane" (p. 107).  This is an actual drug that is prescribed by doctors for short-term treatment of sever insomnia.  The brand name of "Dalmane" has been discontinued in the United States, but flurazepam, which is the generic version, is still prescribed.  Obviously, this book was written long before the brand name medicine was discontinued in 2017.

 

As with most books in this series, there is no identification of the cover artist, and none of the internal illustrations are signed and no credit given - leaving it a mystery as to who provided the art.  I think it bears repeating what a disservice these publishers did back in the day by failing to give credit to cover artists, as well as internal illustrators - particularly for a series like this, where the art plays (or is supposed to play) just as important of a role in helping the reader solve the mystery as the story itself.  With this day and age of information at the tips of our fingers on the internet, one would think the information would be easy to find; but, alas, it is not.  Thus, the identity of these artists remain a mystery unsolved...

 

This mystery was extremely enjoyable, very well written, and definitely kept me guessing.  I am glad to know I will get at least one more mystery by Collins before the end of this series!

 

RATING:  10 blood-stained hotel towels in the trunk of a car out of 10 for taking the "locked room mystery" to a whole new level and giving us a fantastic new sleuth who is up for the challenge! 

The Chilling Deception - a Guinevere Jones novel (Book 2)

I hope this series does not make the same mistake Moonlighting and Remington Steele did back in the '80s.  Part of the attraction for both of those shows was the sexual tension between the two lead characters, with the constant question of "will they?" or "won't they?"  The moment the writers put the leads together in a relationship, the shows faltered and were ultimately cancelled (and while I'm sure there were other reasons for the cancellation as well, I believe a big part of it was removing that tension).  With the Guinevere Jones series, a large chunk of the enjoyment in the first book was how reminiscent it was of the early seasons of both Moonlighting and Remington Steele.  The female and male leads clearly had some attraction, but they were also always at odds with one another, having completely different styles for getting their jobs done.  This is exactly what author Jayne Castle has crafted here with Guinevere Jones and Zachariah Justis.  I just hope this book is not the beginning of the end for that relationship...

 

The Chilling Deception takes place some weeks after the events of the first book. Zac is between jobs in his security business, but Guinevere has a rather posh position as a temporary secretary for Edward Vandyke, the owner and founder of Vandyke Development.  But Gwen is concerned something is off with her boss.  He has been overly concerned about an upcoming business deal and trusts no one around him.  He has also been fighting with his wife, and he has shown signs of agitation and nervousness.  The final straw for Gwen is when she finds a gold-plated gun in Vandyke's personal executive restroom just off of his office.  Something is amiss, and she is concerned for the man.  So, when he asks her to go to the San Juan Islands for the final business meeting that will seal the deal with Washburn, she convinces him to hire Zac for his security, to protect the briefcase that contains all of his important papers for the deal.  Zac is hesitant at first, but the thought of a weekend on an island with Guinevere is too much temptation to say no.

 

Castle (also known as Jayne Ann Krentz) builds the mystery rather slowly.  Guinevere and Zac make the trip to the San Juan Islands with Vandyke, with Zac set up in a room next to Vandyke, and Gwen in a room further down the hall.  It's apparent from the get-go that Vandyke is concerned about more than just the papers in his briefcase, since he fairly well demands Zac remain close to him at all times.  They begin to suspect he fears someone may be targeting him.  Is the business deal really so important that someone would want to kill him?  Only one way to find out, Zac reasons, so he opens the briefcase - and inside, he and Gwen find a flight log for one of Vandyke's business planes from way back when he and his partner, Gannon, ran a courier service to the islands.  The only problem is, the last trip logged in by Gannon on the list was dated after Gannon died!  So, how does a dead man make a delivery flight?  It is at this point that the story starts to heat up.

 

Is a dead man coming after his former partner?  Is someone in this whole business deal not who they say they are?  And why would anyone want to go through Gwen's hotel room when she is ... ahem ... otherwise engaged in Zac's room?  The suspects are plentiful.  There is Washburn.  And Washburn's personal assistant, Springer.  And the local pilot named Cassidy, who has taken a liking to Gwen.  And then there is that mysterious person following Vandyke, who keeps to the shadows and disappears before Zac can get a bead on him.  The deal gets made, the weekend comes to a close, and everything appears to have gone off without a hitch.  Until the next morning, when Vandyke disappears.  And Zac finds out some startling information about the accident that supposedly took Gannon's life  And Vandyke's wife reveals something even more important to Gwen about her husband's past.  It all comes to an exciting climax as Gwen and Zac face off on an isolated, uninhabited against an unscrupulous man who is out for revenge and will stop at nothing to get it!

 

Castle, according to her bio at the back of the book, resides in Seattle, Washington, so it makes sense that her stories are set there - write what you know!  The San Juan Islands are, indeed, a real locality located about 70 - 90 miles northwest of Seattle, and, like in the story, you can get to the islands by ferry or plane.  There are plenty of uninhabited islands, ranging in size, so the one such as Castle uses in her story likely exists.  

 

The conclusion to this story takes place a couple of chapters before the book actually ends.  The last two chapters give readers an epilogue of sorts - first, an opportunity for Guinevere and Zachariah to come to terms with the scope and direction of their relationship; and the second, a scenario that appears to be a set up for the next book (at least, I hope, because I like the character this chapter introduces!).  The first book merely gave a previous of the first chapter of this book; but this one seems to have integrated the "preview" into the actual story - sort of like a television episode that wants to provide a lead-in to the next week's episode!

 

The cover art is gorgeous, even with Gwen's very '80s teased hairstyle.  The scene appears to meld some of the story elements together - from the all-important briefcase, to the wooded area of the island, to the fun in Zac's hand (which actually never takes place, since Zac does not carry a gun with him in the story, and when he's fighting the villain, he knocks the gun away and does not pick it up).  I love how the artist has the rays of sunlight streaming through the trees, which gives the scene a rather chilling effect.  The cover has the artist's signature:  CLIFF MILLER. This is a pleasant surprise, as Miller provided cover art for a number of the Nancy Drew Files back in the 1990s (and I actually own several of his paintings that were used for those covers!).  

 

RATING:  9 pairs of nylon panty hose with runs in them out of 10 for a tale filled with intrigue, mistaken identities, and a great soap-opera style return from the dead story! 

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #31 - Death on the Circuit

I am now on the downhill side of this Zebra Mystery Puzzler series, with 31 books read and 29 still to go (not counting the four-book "You Solve It" series by Zebra for young adults, which were published around the same time, but aimed at a younger audience and without the internal illustrations).  This book introduces readers to another new author and another new sleuth - but with a catch!  This is the first of four books by Jan Ellery; yet, this is the only one to feature Navy Lieutenant Marsha Lenox as the amateur sleuth.  In fact, each of Ellery's novels in this series boasts a different protagonist, which is unique, since all of the other authors who wrote more than one book in the series continued the adventures of their main character.  And as far as the author goes, I could find nothing on Jan Ellery.  One website gives credit to both Jan Ellery and Jean Ross Ewing; however, Ewing's personal website does not indicate she had any involvement with this book.  Thus, the true authorship of this book is left a mystery...

 

Death on the Circuit is a different type of mystery, since it involves members of our armed forces - particularly, the Navy. Marsha Lenox is a Lieutenant who has been assigned to a USO tour with the famous comedian, Harry Carras.  Only, she learns very quickly that Carras may be funny onstage, but he's anything but funny off-stage.  The Hollywood actress, Cindy Carlson can't stand him.  His manager, Hal Squires, has every reason to hate him, as Carras is constantly berating and firing him.  Even the men and women of the Navy who are acting as escorts have nothing good to say about the man.  Carras even managed to avoid any long-term bad publicity for the suicide of a model years ago who killed herself when the egotistical man tossed her aside for another woman.  So, when Carras is electrocuted on stage when he grabs hold of the microphone, prepared to start his act, there are any number of suspects.  Because Marsha is nearly killed herself when she tries to lend aid to the man, she makes it her mission to uncover what really happened.

 

The mystery of whodunnit becomes a lot more complicated when the chain of command in the Navy hand down the decision - the death was simply an accident, and all investigation into what happened must stop.  Marsha cannot understand the decision, as she has a witness that will testify to the fact that the electrocution was caused deliberately.  Someone wanted Carras dead, and now someone is trying to sweep it all under the rug.  Marsha finally learns from a fellow officer that there is more going on than meets the eye.  Near where the concert was to be performed is an ongoing search for some nuclear weapons, and there is the possibility the Russians are involved.  Marsha does not see how this involves Carras until Lt. Jeff Harris explains that Carras was actually working for the government - and, worse than that, he was also working for the Russians as a spy!  Thus, the number of possible suspects just multiplied.

 

Ellery crafts a truly ingenuous murder mystery, once that had me going back and forth with who I though did it.  I even had a difficult time picking out clues from the cover and internal illustrations, as I could never definitively determine who the killer was.  Which is a good thing, as it kept me on my toes and offered me a surprise reveal at the end.  Once the killer was identified, and that person's motive was revealed, then looking back over the illustrations, I was suddenly able to spot the clues (although, to be honest, there are two internal illustrations that offer up no clues whatsoever, which makes them nothing more than red herrings).  I will say, however, that the way in which the story is told, literally ANYONE (other than Marsha) could have been the killer.  Everyone had a motive, and most everyone had the opportunity as well.  It all boiled down to the question - who had the skill and knowledge to set up the electrocution to take place, and who truly hated Carras enough to want him dead.  

 

There are no credits for the cover artist and the internal illustrator, so I have no clue who did either.  The style of the internals is familiar enough, though, with the full page art and tons of shading.  This artist likely provided some of the internals for earlier books in the series; it is just a shame the publisher never thought fit to give credit to the artists.  Plus, this new cover design with the small amount of artwork appearing in the glass area of the magnifying glass limits just how much you can actually see.  I wish Kensington / Zebra had kept the original cover style with full page art.

 

It's a shame this is the one and only Zebra Mystery Puzzler to feature Navy Lieutenant Marsha Lenox.  I like the character, and the limitations placed upon her by her position within the military made for an interesting read as she fought to navigate between her own curiosity and determination and the orders from her superior officers.  Nevertheless, despite this being her one and only mystery, it is a story definitely well worth the read!

 

RATING:  10 outdated issues of Vogue magazine out of 10 for a uniquely different murder mystery and a super-crafty tale that keeps readers guessing to the end!

A Murder Most Unladylike Mystery, Book 9 - Death Sets Sail

It has been just a little over a year since I read the last Wells & Wong a/k/a Murder Most Unladylike mystery, and I hesitated starting this book.  It is the ninth book in the series, but it is also the LAST book in the series.  (sigh)  I miss the days of continuing, ongoing series, such as Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys (although can I really include the Hardy Boys, since they have not had a new book published in nearly three years now?).  It seems today's "series" are not really series at all - they are more like mini-series.  Most end after only three or four books, with very few making it to nine books, like this one.  (The only one currently being published that I can think of that has outlasted this one is the Friday Barnes series, which is up to book 13, I believe.)  But, I knew I had to read it sooner or later, so now was as good a time as any.

 

Death Sets Sail finds our two favorite young sleuths - Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong - suffering through the latest year at school, but with absolutely no mystery to solve.  While this is not the usual way these books start, the last sentence of Chapter 1 definitely gave me pause - and started me reading this book faster than any of the others I've read in the past.  After all, all of Hazel's talk about delaying in writing this book (the stories are mostly told through Hazel's point of view, as she writes down the adventures of The Detective Society in her casebook) had me wondering, but it was not until that last sentence that I realized this book truly was going to be the end in more than one way.  I mean, let's be serious, how many meanings can there be to the line, "Perhaps that way I can bring Daisy back to life."

 

Wait, what?!?! These are only fifteen-year old girls.  Surely, there is no way the author, Robin Stevens, was going to kill of one of her main characters in the final book in the series.  She wouldn't do that.  Would she?  The only way to find out was to read the book, and read I did!  From their long, uneventful days at Deepdean, to the invitation from the classmate, Amina El Maghrabi, to join her on a trip to Egypt to visit her family, to the long-last resignation of Hazel's father to the fact that his daughter truly is a detective, to the reuniting with Alexander Aracady and George Mukherjee of the Junior Pinkertons, to that fateful cruise down the Nile River where the girls, along with Mr. Wong and Hazel's two younger sisers (May and Rose), the Junior Pinkertons, and the very unusual Breath of Life Society all become embroiled in a murder mystery worthy of Agatha Christie herself (I mean, c'mon, surely you get the reference already - Death on the Nile?).  Right after Daisy, Hazel, Amina, Alexander, and George witness the most unusual meeting of the Breath of Life Society (a group of individuals, mostly British, who believe they are reincarnations of Egyptian pharoahs), a dead body turns up the next morning - with a sleepwalker standing over the body, covered in blood, crying out that she murdered her own mother!  Makes for a nice, easy case, right?  Wrong!

 

The cruise ship is simply full of suspects, all of them members of the Breath of Life Society - the question is, which one of them killed Theodora Miller, who believes she is the reincarnation of Hatshepsut (the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, being the second woman to rule in her own right).  Was it really her sleepwalking daughter, Hephzibah (Heppy), who was treated like dirt by all of the members of the Society, including her own mother?  Or was it Daniel Miller, her son who blames her for the death of his friend Joshua some years before?  Could it have been Ida Doggett, who believes herself to be the reincarnation of Cleopatra and resents Theodora's control of the Society?  Or maybe it was Rhiannon Bartleby, whose nervousness and forgetfulness relates back to the death of Daniel's friend all those years ago?  Would Narcissus DeWitt, who believed himself the reincarnation of Thutmose III, murder Theodora in order to gain control of the Society's funds?  All of them had motive, and as the girls conduct their investigation, all of them had the opportunity and the means.  What begins as an open and shut case for the captain of the ship is not so "open and shut" as it appears, and Daisy and Hazel quickly discover that the plot to rid the Society of its pretentious leader is much more complex and devious than anyone suspects.

 

The girls get some unexpected help from Hazel's youngest sister, May, who manages to sneak away from her father's watchful eye time and time again, and providing the young detectives with some major clues that help them narrow down the list of suspects.  They also receive their usual help from the young Pinkertons, with Hazel's attraction to Alexander growing stronger by the day.  And even Amina manages to make herself useful, although Hazel can't help but notice the looks that keep passing between Daisy and Amina, and she wonders if perhaps Daisy will ever realize the feelings the Egyptian girl has for her.  It all leads up to a rather dramatic and very violent climactic confrontation, when the killer is revealed, grabs May and threatens to drop her overboard into the churning paddle wheel, and one young person's valiant sacrifice to save May's life and stop a killer from killing again...

 

But, wait!  That's not the end!  Hazel manages to provide readers with a bit of an epilogue, with a couple of surprises - some expected, some hoped for, and some not expected at all!  But it seems that while this book series may have reached its conclusion, the Detective Society will live on!   (And if you really want a taste of that, checkout Steven's sort-of-sequel series, The Ministry of Unladylike Activity, which follows an older May Wong on her own series of adventures, solving mysteries and stopping crimes!)

 

While not exactly the ending I would have liked for Hazel and Daisy, this book was without a doubt a superb read, and honestly, it is in full keeping with the growing characters of Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells, and Stevens gives the series a send-off that is worthy of the Wells and Wong' Detective Society.

 

RATING:  10  pieces of wire used as lock picks out of 10 for saving the very best Wells and Wong mystery for last, and giving readers an emotional send-off that makes us realize just how much we love these characters! 

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #30 - Murder by Degrees

This book is the half-way point of the Zebra Mystery Puzzlers, as the series ended after 60 books.  The book offers up yet another new author to the series, Ann Pearson.  There are apparently a number of authors by this name, but with some research, it appears Ms. Pearson is (was?) a resident of Alabama (where this book is set), having received a PhD in English from Auburn University (which would explain why her protagonist is an English teacher at an Alabama university!).  She has authored a number of articles about local Alabama history, as well as historic preservation.  According to the sources I was able to find, the three mysteries she wrote for this series are the only three fiction novels she wrote.  Thus, her background and profession play a large part of this mystery, leaving one to wonder if perhaps Ms. Pearson was not putting herself into the story...

 

Murder by Degrees is one of those mysteries where the body is discovered within the first few pages, and the rest of the book is spent backtracking as the police, and our intrepid amateur sleuth, must sift through everything that happened the previous night in order to figure out just whodunnit.  The title is clearly a play on words, since the murder victim was the head of the English department at an Alabama university, and all the suspects are professors, some of whom have PhDs, others of whom do not.  As for the story itself - well, let's just say it surprised me.  A lot!  The writing of this book is unlike any in the series thus far.  While Maggie Courtney, a teacher at Jernigan College, is the main character and Pearson's amateur sleuth, the narrative does not stay on her; rather it seems to pivot among three characters - Maggie, of course, but also Jake Travis, the detective with the local police force, as well as Ted Meredith, a fellow teacher at the college.  There are also moments where we get snippets of some of the other characters, apart from Maggie, Jake, and Ted, and it gives the readers pause, wondering if the people we are following in the narrative could be the murderer, or if it is going to be someone from whom we do not get their point of view.  In fact, Maggie does not really take any active role in investigating until more than half-way through the book!  Her ultimately solving the puzzle is more by chance than any actual sleuthing on her part.

 

The story is also filled with a plethora of characters - and I mean a real plethora! In most mysteries, you get a few suspect, or in some instances, maybe five or six suspects.  Not in this book!  No, in this book, you get more suspects than you can possibly keep track of - and I'm not exaggerating.  The murder victim is Dr. Ruby Murdoch, Dean of Humanities and the Head of the English Department at Jernigan.  (And in case you are wondering, no, there is no real Jernigan College in Alabama.)  When Detective Travis begins his investigation, he quickly learns that Dr. Murdoch was not liked by very many people - in fact, most of the people who knew her had reason to hate her, giving them all motive for murder.  (1) Albert Cannon, assistant professor of English who is up for tenure; (2) Joe Waters is a teacher without a Ph.D. who is also up for tenure, worried that his lack of degree could hurt his chances; (3) Harriet McGraw, an assistant professor who shares a house with Maggie, who butted heads with the deceased over an art festival; (4) George Purvis, another assistant professor, about whom are a number of rumors regarding his proclivity for male students, as well as his drinking and debt problems; (5) Ronald Weir, a professor with tenure, suffering from Hodgkins' disease and a distant relative of the deceased; (6) Mrs. Boykin, a middle-aged widow who teaches only literature classes; (7) Jane Stone, the youngest instructor in the department who is reserved and keeps to herself, earning her the nickname "the Sphinx"; (8) Lorene Murphy, who is rumored to be having an affair with one of the other instructors at the college; (9) Paul Perry, the student liaison for the freshman English committee who is slick as oil and loves playing two sides against each other; and (10) Lucy, the English department's housekeeper, who seems to always be listening in or watching everything around her.  Of course, we must also remember that as far as Lt. Travis is concerned, Maggie and Ted are both suspects (but, of course, the reader can discount them, as they are both main characters, unlikely to be the culprit!).

 

Another oddity about this book are the illustrations, once again provided by Sanford Hoffman, making this the ninth book in the series illustrated by Hoffman.  The art is up to Hoffman's standard, but the scenes depicted are so bland and nondescript, one is left to wonder what possible clues could any of them hold?!  From scenes of Maggie dialing a phone with Cannon standing in the doorway, to Jane Stone sitting on the witness stand at the inquest, to three characters walking away from a shed, to a suicide note, to Lt. Travis looking at shelves of paperweights.  None of illustrations stand out as having any clues, and, quite honestly, it was not until I was reading the next to the last chapter that clues from the illustrations started to come to light - they are so subtle, so ingeniously placed, it changed my whole attitude about the book.  In fact, the clue on the cover was not at all what I thought it was; but when I realized what the real clue was, everything made perfect sense, pointing to the killer almost from the very start of the story.  For that, I have to give the author, illustrator, and publisher credit for taking what started out as a very dense, uninteresting story and turning it into quite a complicated murder mystery - one steeped in English literature.

 

Speaking of which, it should not be surprising the story is dosed with quite a bit of literature references, but one thing I did not know and learned from reading this book is that George Eliot was actually a pseudonym for a woman!  When Maggie first referred to Eliot as "her," I thought it was merely a typo.  But when Ted also refers to Eliot as "her," I looked it up and discovered that George Eliot was actually Mary Ann Evans, an English author, journalist, and poet who published her work under the Eliot pen name.  Just goes to show, you can learn something new every day!

 

What I thought was going to be the worst book in the series ultimately turned out to be one of the best, and definitely one of the most unique in writing style.  Pearson has two more books in the series, and I look forward to seeing where she takes Maggie Courtney from here.

 

RATING:  9 brand new literature book dust jackets out of 10 for a cunningly crafty murder mystery that gives readers an inside look into the lives of college instructors! 

Marriage is Murder - A Posie Parker Mystery, Book 9

I did not realize it has been over a year since I read my last Posie Parker mystery.  I love this 1920s female sleuth, who shares the same last name as Mildred Wirt's teenage detective from the 1940s and whose name is the reverse of a certain American actress of today.  Author L.B. Hathaway has crafted a world and characters that draw you into the story so easily, and murder mysteries that will keep you guessing right up to the end!  The world Hathaway describes is so vibrant and real, it is so easy to picture in your mind, and the characters are so distinctive and well-rounded, that you cannot help but love or hate them (depending on what the story calls for).  When I got this ninth book in the series from Amazon, I will admit I was surprised at how thin it was - I did not realize when I purchased it that it was simply a novella - a short story that tells the story of how Posie Parker and Scotland Yard's own Richard Lovelace finally tie the knot.  But, of course there are some complications along the way...

 

Marriage is Murder?, and yes the question mark is a part of the title, is only 66 pages in length, but it sure packs a lot into those 66 pages!  It opens with what is supposed to be the most magnificent day of Posie Parker's life. With two previous fiances left behind, Posie is absolutely sure that Richard Lovelace is the one.  After all the dangers they have faced together solving quite a few murder mysteries, and now that they are adopting Katie, the little baby left behind with no family but Posie and Richard, there can be no doubt that the finest that Scotland Yard has to offer is the man who will finally become her husband. So, why, then, is she so nervous?  Is it simply pre-wedding jitters?  Or is a premonition that even the best laid plans never go off without a hitch.  And boy, is there a hitch or two (or three, or even four!) this time!

 

First, the flowers are wrong.  Posie arrives at the church to find yellow mimosa all over the place, instead of all of the white roses she had ordered and paid for herself.  Where did her flowers go, and who replaced them?  Then, who is that minister standing at the altar?  That's not Father Rene Hoffman, the French-speaking reverend who Posie and Richard had specifically hired for their ceremony.  And what in the world was that persistent knocking noise, that seemed to come from somewhere behind the minister?  And more important than any of those things, where in the world was Richard Lovelace?

 

It seems the mystery is one of a missing person.  Until they hear the faint cry for help from behind the wall in the cupboard.  Until the telephone call the Chief Inspector takes that provides a riddle as to Richard's whereabouts.  Until Posie goes racing off to find her betrothed, unaware of the guns being fired into the church sanctuary.  Until Posie arrives at Scotland Yard to find it completely empty - not just of law enforcement, but of all the criminals where supposed to be locked in their cells.  Until Posie discovers she has been tricked, led into a deadly game of cat and mouse.  Until she finally comes face-to-face with an old enemy, one she thought long dead - one who intends to make her his own wife and take her far away from England and the man that she loves. And that is when Posie does something she thought she would never have to do.  What is that, you ask?  Well, you really don't think I'm going to tell you and spoil it!

 

The story is a fun-filled romp from the blessed halls of God's house to the filthy boardwalk along the wharfs, with Posie running here and there and everywhere in her beautiful wedding down and veil.  Oh, and yes, this is the dead of winter, so it's freezing outside, snow on the ground, and a harsh snowfall raining from the sky.  As if things could not get any worse for poor Posie.  It's a thoroughly enjoyable read that flies by way too quickly.  It's a good thing I found a number of the remaining books in this series at my local used bookstore, because now I do not have to wait to receive them from Amazon in order to read the next book - I already have it in hand!

 

If you are not reading this series, you should.  You must!  Hathaway is an amazing author, her mysteries are perfectly plotted, and Posie Parker is definitely one of the finest female detectives out there - right up there next to Miss Marple and Nancy Drew!

 

RATING:  10 cases of mistaken identity out of 10 for a wonderful winter wedding murder mystery well worth the read! 

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #29 - You'll Die, Darling

After an eight-book break, author Martin Grove (a/k/a Marjorie J. Grove) returns to this series with his sixth murder mystery featuring gossip columnist-turned-sleuth Maxine Reynolds.  But this book marks more than just the return of Grove and his spunky columnist.  This is the first book to feature the completely revamped cover format!  Gone are the full cover painted scenes, and in their place, the publisher instead placed the cover art within the glass portion of a large magnifying glass, which lay diagonally across a colored box, with a white outline surrounding it all.  In the top right-hand corner, the number of the book in the series now appears in white against a different colored background.  Thus, the cover illustration has considerably less space within which to display a clue to the mystery, and there is now a much less chance of catching any artist signature that might give a clue to the identity of the cover artist.  I'm not sure why they chose to go in this direction, unless it was simply to set the series apart from all the other mystery novels on the shelves at the time and give it a distinctive look that would set it apart from the rest.

 

You'll Die, Darling has Maxine Reynolds hunting for the killer of a country-western singer who was preparing the change direction with her career by leaving behind her former singing partners and entering the rock-n-roll realm. Max may have been the last person to see the singer alive, as Cindy Chester went missing just as she was about to head to San Francisco to put on a show that would start her new direction.  But the story does not open with her murder; rather, it opens with her kidnapping, as her agent, Kevin Belvedere, calls Max to see if Cindy said anything to her during the interview that would explain her failure to appear in San Francisco for her scheduled concert.  A ransom demand, a scramble to get together the money, and a police stake out to capture the kidnapper lead to even more questions when the man who ultimately picks up the cash is only an intermediary - and the post office box number to where he is to mail the money does not exist!

 

Grove gives readers a twisting tale of murder, mystery, jealousy, bitterness, and revenge as Max digs deeper into the kidnapping, only to discover the songstress dead in her garage from apparent suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.  The police inspector is satisfied, but Max is not.  The only clues she has are a few strands of blond hair in the dead woman's fist, as well as a specially made key that has the logo scraped off.  With those two things to get her started, Max sets out to question everyone involved - from the dead woman's manager, to her two former singing partners, to the singer's abusive boyfriend, to one of the former partner's drug-dealing boyfriend.  One or more them wanted  Cindy Chester dead, but the questions remain - who and why?

 

The identity of the killer is not exactly obvious, but it is not too difficult to spot.  Only a couple of the interior illustrations hold clues to the killer; the rest have to be gleaned from the story itself.  And since we are on the topic of those internal illustrations, Sanford Hoffman is once again the one providing the framed drawings in this book.  However, despite how much I normally enjoy his framed illustrations, the ones in this book seem a bit off.  For example, the first illustration (on page 65 - see below), the middle-man who is arrested for picking up the package filled with money - if you look carefully, you will see that his left hand has two thumbs!  The second picture, on page 78, shows one of Cindy's two singing partners holding a round object in her hand; however, there is nothing in the story that indicates she is holding anything, and the circular object in the illustration is no plain there is no telling what it actually is.  In the third illustration on page 113, Cindy's manager is drawn holding a drink in his right hand - but the hand itself is oddly elongated, way longer than any human hand could possibly be.  The fourth and fifth illustrations are normal, but the last one, on page 173, shows three men who show up at Max's door uninvited, and the one in front is clearly holding up a gun in his right hand; yet, in the story, the man has no gun, and there is not even any mention of a gun anywhere in that scene!  Definitely not Hoffman's finest work in the series, that's for sure!

 

The cover art, limited as it is, has no identification as to the artist.  The scene nearly describes the moment when Max comes across Cindy Chester's dead body in the car in her garage, except in the story, she slides into the seat next to the singer, she is not standing outside the car looking down at her.  The artist does manage to sneak in the strands of blond hair in Cindy's hand, which I'm assuming is meant to be the clue on the covers, as promised in the cover blurb.  What is a little weird is it appears the car in which she is sitting had two gear shifts.  Perhaps one is meant to be an emergency brake, although I will admit, I've never seen any car that has an emergency brake so far behind the gear shift as the one in this painted cover.

 

While this particular story is not Grove's best work in the series, it is still a fairly good read.  As expected the obvious suspect is not the culprit (and in fact, that particular person winds up dead themselves!), and the real culprit is not really a big surprise.  I do like, though, that Grove always has his sleuth talk through all of the clues that led her to figure out whodunnit, so that the reader knows exactly what they should have seen (if they didn't) while reading the story.  Plus, Grove's books are always fun because of Pamela Tooth, better known as "Toothy."  Her quick wit and sarcasm make the whole thing worth it!

 

Sadly, there is only one more Grove mystery left in this series (book 39), so I can't wait to see what Maxine Reynolds' final case has in store for us!

 

RATING:  7 apartment complex pools filled with green water out of 10 for attempting to mislead the reader (and poor Max) and hide the real killer's identity for as long as possible!

Agatha, Girl of Mystery #5 - The Eiffel Tower Incident

Well, I didn't wait quite as long between reading the installments of Agatha, Girl of Mystery this time (last time, there was a year gap between books!).  This time, I managed to only let five months pass before picking up the next book in the series.  I cannot say enough just how much FUN this series is!  Yes, it is aimed at young readers, and yes, each book is relatively short (only 120 or so pages, with large font and plenty of illustrations); but the stories and characters are unique and whimsical, and the mysteries are so wonderfully plotted, with clues to their solution placed right there for the reader to pick up on, you can't help but enjoy yourself reading them!  I am thankful that Grosset & Dunlap picked up the series and translated it from its original Italian into the English language for us to read.

 

The Eiffel Tower Incident takes Agatha and her crime-solving cohorts into new territory - solving a murder! Agatha and her cousin, Dash, are off to Paris to visit with Dash's older brother, Gaston, who is a painter - and, of course, Chandler (the butler) and Watson (the cat) are along for the ride.  Dash gets delayed, though, due to one of his detective classes, and he inadvertently causes a severe injury to his teacher who is headed to Paris as well to solve the mystery of a murdered Russian diplomat - so with no other choice, he sends Dash in his place.  Poor Dash doesn't know what to do, so he immediately seeks Agatha's help, and she is more the ready to step in and save the day.

 

Author Sir Steve Stevenson does create  rather crafty little mystery here.  Boris Renko, a 60-year old Russian diplomat was having dinner at the famous Jules Verne restaurant, located more than 400 feet above the ground on the second level of the Eiffel Tower (which, as it turns out, is an actual restaurant located exactly where the book says), when he suddenly choked and fell to the floor in a faint.  By the time he reached the hospital, he was pronounced dead.  The police discovered traces of poison in his wine and arrested the sommelier (otherwise known as a wine steward) who had been serving him.  But Agatha finds this too convenient and sets about solving the crime and uncovering the identity of the real killer.  But the only clue she has is the phrase, "red rose," which were the dying man's last words.  This leads them to three possible suspects.

 

Gerard Clouseau is a boxer with a red rose tattooed on his neck.  He had a sour confrontation with the diplomat in the elevator riding up to the restaurant the night of the murder.  John Radcliffe was a brilliant New York attorney having dinner with his girlfriend that night; but when he proposed, she left in tears, leaving behind the engagement ring and the red rose he had given her.  Madame Roxanne Pigafette is a  food critic whose brother owns a restaurant in competition with Le Jules Verne.  Any one of the three had a motive, yet, Agatha has to figure out which of them had the means and opportunity.  As it turns out, the real killer set up an entire faux scenario, and as revealed through the interviews with the suspects, stumbled out of the restaurant just before the diplomat was poisoned - knocking into some patrons, as well as a waiter, and stopping for a moment at the bar where the wine glasses were waiting for the steward to deliver.  With the means and opportunity cleared up, Agatha, Dash, Chandler, and Watson (that cat goes everywhere!) had across the street from the Russian embassy in Paris to confront the killer!

 

Readers are treated to an exciting roof-top chase, as well as an unexpected rescue from the most unlikely source.  And, once again, the case is wrapped up nicely, the criminal is brought to justice, and Dash is pulled out of the frying pan and not kicked out of school - all thinks to the quick-thinking and analytical skills of Agatha, Girl of Mystery! 

 

Artist Stefano Turconi provides plenty of illustrations throughout the book, and his stylized art provides readers with a fun romp through the streets of Paris and the Eiffel Tower at twilight (with a gorgeous two-page spread in the middle of the book).  Turconi captures the character descriptions provided by Stevenson so nicely, and while they are a bit cartoony in nature, it fits the feel of the book. I would so love to see this done as an animated series, with Turconi's art as the basis and style for the animation!

 

From Egypt to Bengal, from Scotland to Niagara Falls ... Agatha Mistery travels the world to solve what appear to be impossible crimes!  Sure, the stories are short, easy reads (an hour at most to read one book), but they are well worth it for the entertainment value alone!

 

RATING:  9 bottles of cockroach poison out of 10 for giving young readers a chance to enjoy a carefully crafted murder mystery that even they can solve! 

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #28 - Who Killed Me?

There are several important things to point out about this Zebra Mystery Puzzler, the 28th in this series of murder mysteries that allows the reader the opportunity to solve the crime before opening that final, sealed chapter.  First, this is the final book in the series to sport a full-cover painted scene.  The format of the cover changed with the next book in the series, reducing the cover art to a small circle inside a magnifying glass (thus, limiting the amount of space for the cover art to provide a clue to the crime).  Second, this is the first book in the series authored by Joan Allan (more on the author below), and the first to feature advertising account executive-turned-sleuth Valerie Lambert.  Third, it offers up what turns out to be a very well-crafted mystery, with clues so subtle you do not even notice them until they are pointed out at the end!

 

Who Killed Me? is taken directly from the note that is found on the dead body of  Nelson Bishop, an up-and-coming executive in the Associated Cosmetics company who has managed to make an enemy of pretty much everyone who knew him.  Thus, the question printed out on the back of a theater ticket and left on his corpse for the police to find is most appropriate.  The suspects include pretty much everyone who is involved in the photo shoot for the ad campaign for the company's new line of cosmetics named after the actress, Meri Milton.  Now, it is up to Valerie Lambert (whose name is included on that ticket, indicating the police should ask her who did it) to figure out which one of the likely suspects actually did the deed.

 

Something that came across as too unrealistic is how quickly Inspector Haverstock was willing to allow Valerie to become a part of the investigation.  Now, any real police detective who has a dead body with a note that specifically identifies one person on it would NOT partner with the person to find the murderer, but would more likely take that person as a suspect until evidence would show otherwise.  (And, yes, evidence does clear Valerie by the next day, since she was having dinner with the commercial director that night, then took a taxi back to her hotel at the time the murder took place - but still, that inspector did not know this when he agrees to let Valerie help with the investigation!).  Putting that aside, though, it is only through Valerie's persistence that the real murderer is revealed.

 

Allan gives readers a truly puzzling mystery with this one.  The knife used to kill Bishop is a left-handed knife (with the grooves on the handle made specifically for a left-handed person).  The note left on the body is written on the back side of an unused theater ticket and written with specialty ink.  The rare button missing from his suit jacket was cut off, not torn.  And there just happens to be a specialty store in London that sells only items for left-handed people.  And there is a shop in London that specializes in the kind of ink and pen used to write the note.  And an antique store in the area happens to reveal that someone Valerie knows purchased a set of those exact buttons not long ago - a set that was short one.  All of these clues lead directly to one specific suspect, all nice and tidy.  And when that suspect winds up dead, an apparent suicide by jumping off a bridge into the frigid waters of the river below. the Inspector is sure the case is resolved.  Valerie, however, is not satisfied.  It is all too convenient.

 

The clues to this crime are so very subtle, I was getting frustrated by the time I reached that final chapter trying to figure out whodunnit.  I took a stab in the dark based on the idea that the least likely suspect will turn out to be the killer - and boy, was I wrong!  When Valerie unmasks the killer at a party she hosts in her lavish hotel room (very Agatha Christie-like!), and she starts walking Inspector Haverstock through all the clues that led her to the realization of the killer's identity, I could only shake my head.  Sure enough, the clues were there - on the cover, in several of the illustrations, and in the story; but my keen eyes simply glossed over them and did not pick them up for what they were.  Which, in my book, made this a SUPERB story!  While I do enjoy being able to figure out who the killer is before the end, sometimes it is nice to be taken completely off-guard, especially when the author points out that all the clues were there if I had simply paid closer attention along the way.  So, kudos to Allan and the publisher for making this one so crafty! 

 

As with a number of the books in this series, there is no identification of the artist for either the cover or the interior illustrations.  While I do love both, as the artwork is beautifully rendered, I am disappointed that the publisher failed to give the artist a proper description for Valerie Lambert.  In the book, she has "long ash blond hair that spilled over her shoulders" (p. 6); yet, on the cover, she clearly has a dark, reddish-brown hair, and on the only internal in which Valerie is seen (p. 58), she is again depicted with dark colored hair.  I realize this is being a bit nit picky, but I do not think it can be that difficult for an artist to be given an accurate description of the main character in a book!  That being said, I love the internal artist's depiction of actress Meri Milton on page 17 - very "Marlene Deitrich" in appearance and pose.

 

"Joan Allan" wrote only three books in this series - this one, volume 33 (Who's Next?) and volume 47 (Who's on First?).  I can find absolutely nothing about this author anywhere, other than the fact that she (he?) wrote the three books in this series.  There is something in the front of the book, however, that raises a question as to the author's identity - on the copyright page, there is a dedication to "Marjorie, Martin and Geoffrey Eric Grove."  As fans of this series might recall, Marjorie Grove is the named author of a number of books starring Maxine Reynolds - but "Marjorie Grove" is actually Martin A. Grove (and there was a sly reference in the first book in this series to Martin Grove, his wife Marjorie, and their son, Geoffrey!).  Thus, is "Joan Allan" simply another pseudonym for Grove, allowing him to create another sleuth for this series? Or is "Joan Allan" someone who knows the real Grove family, and gave a nod to them, perhaps as a word of thanks for helping him or her get their work published in this series?

 

A couple of things worth pointing out from this book.  The author elects to avoid the "555" telephone exchange when giving numbers in the book; instead, the author puts forth potentially real numbers:  "836-4343" as the number to call for Valerie Lambert (p. 34); and "286-6010" as the number of the taxi service (p. 41).  I wonder how many people, back in the day, called those numbers just to see who would answer!  The other item of interest is the reference to the exchange rate between the United States and England.  The shopkeeper informed Valerie the cost will be "two pounds sixty-six" (p. 102), to which Valerie quickly figures out the American equivalent would be "$5.32" (p. 103).  According to what I could find online for 1979, the exchange rate was 0.4713 British pound to one American dollar.  A quick search online shows the exchange would have been closer to $5.64 in American dollars; however, the rate fluctuates, so at any given time, depending on when the book was actually written, that exchange rate given in the story could have been accurate.

 

Overall, a really great read, and I look forward to Allan's other two books in this series!

 

RATING:  10 stubbed out cigarette butts out of 10 for a wonderfully written, excitingly engaging, perfectly puzzling murder mystery well worth the read! 

Shadow Acres - a Magnum Gothic novel

This is my first time reading a Gothic novel by Frances Y. McHugh, who wrote a number of Gothic tales back during this period for various publishers.  This book was first published in 1967 by Arcadia House, and the edition I own is a later paperback printing from Prestige Books under their "Magnum" line.  I could not find anything out about this particular author so unsure if McHugh is the author's actual name or simply a pen name for someone else.  In either event, the story turned out to be a fairly good read, albeit a mixture of murder mystery and Gothic.

 

Shadow Acres is told from a first-person point-of-view, narrated by the main character, Reda Randall.  McHugh opens the story in the "present," so to speak, as Reda is thinking about the events that took place at the great house known as Shadow Acres, wondering if everything that transpired was a result of her action or inaction.  Her reverie is broken when her fiance, Bryan Sedgwick shows up, ready to take her out for a night on the town.  Through her conversation with Bryan, the reader learns of Bryan's cousin, Greg, and his father, Gregory, as well as a bit about his and Greg's grandfather, the first Gregory Sedgwick.  Slowly, McHugh reveals a bit more about the drama that has led these characters to this point - the fact that Reda was once engaged to Greg, but when he was found with a scantily clad woman in his college dorm, she broke off the engagement, he left the country, and she eventually fell for Bryan.  It is obvious from the start that Reda and Bryan's relationship has some issues - Reda is a talented pianist who is wanting to perform with her music school orchestra, but Bryan does not want her to follow that path, fearful she will do the same thing to him that his aunt (who was an actress) did to his uncle (left him for her leading man!). 

 

The mystery begins when Reda is preparing for a party she and Bryan are to attend, when she is summoned to Shadow Acres, which is hours away from her NYC apartment.  The elder Gregory Sedgwick will not take no for an answer, and so Reda sends her regrets to the hosts of the party, leaves a message for Bryan who is supposed to pick her up, and takes the train to Shadow Acres.  Upon her arrival, late at night, she finds the house quiet.  No one answers the door, which she discovers to be unlocked.  Her fear mounting, she enters the house - and finds her fiance holding a gun in his hand ... and in the library behind him, Gregory Sedgwick is lying dead on the floor with a gunshot wound to his head!  Second later, Greg, who was believed to still be in South America, walks in the door, claiming he looked through the window and saw Bryan kneeling over their grandfather with the gun.  Reda and the reader are left to wonder - who killed Gregory Sedgwick?

 

McHugh plays it coy, as the identity of the killer is not obvious by any means.  In fact, as the story progresses, we learn that growing up, Greg was a bit of the wild boy, the rebel, while Bryan was always the obedient, good boy.  Bryan seems to be the obvious suspect, but clues begin to spring up that point to Greg as the killer.  It isn't until a large flower pot falls (is dropped?) from the roof above Reda (pp. 85-86) that we start to see some of the Gothic elements creep in.  Not three pages later, our poor heroine is knocked pretty hard in the back of the head (p. 89), which is the result of a stone taken from Greg's rare rock collection.  It is obvious someone is out to hurt, or possibly kill Reda, but the question is - why?  To whom is she a threat?  There is also the growing tension between Greg and Bryan, as Bryan grows jealous of Greg's attention toward his fiance, and Greg believes Reda is not truly in love with Bryan but still in love with him.  If all of this is not enough to drive a poor girl crazy, then what is?

 

It is the fire in Reda's room, set while she is sleeping, that begins to turn the tide.  Someone places a burning cigarette on her bed, locks her windows, and leave the room, looking the door behind them!  Poor Reda is nearly killed, if it weren't for the fortunate timing of Greg, rescuing her through her second story window.  Is Greg really the killer, and simply covering his tracks by appearing to rescue her?  Does Bryan want her dead, jealous of her returning feelings for his cousin?  Could it be one of the servants - John or his wife, Agnes - who, for unknown reasons, want Reda out of the picture?  Or is there someone else in the house - someone whose shadow Reda saw on the outskirts of the woods one night ... whose footsteps she heard in the rooms above her when John and Agnes were both downstairs ... whose connection to the house and the family could spell ultimate doom for Reda?!

 

No credit given to the cover artist, but it is a beautifully rendered scene, with Reda running away from the house.  Interestingly, the artist breaks from the tradition of having an upper floor window lighted, and instead, chooses to have a lighted window on the first floor (likely to coincide with the murder of the elder Gregory Sedgwick taking place in the library on the first floor).  The depicted scene is extremely dark, with the only real color being the design on her dress, her pale skin, the light in the window, and the dark green grass leading up the hill to the house.  There's no doubt this cover sets the dark mood for the story contained within.  The Arcadia House cover from the original publisher definitely gives the book a more "murder mystery" feel to it, which supports Lori A. Page's observation in her critical study of the Gothic novels of this period that publishers got to the point where they took previously published works, slapped a new cover on it, and called it "Gothic" (The Gothic Romance Wave). 

 

While I would not say this is one of the best Gothics I've ever read, the story was enjoyable enough that I would pick up more of McHugh's books. 

 

RATING:  9 rare bluestone specimens out of 10 for a tale filled with suspense and mystery, with plenty of secrets and misdirects to keep the main character (and the reader!) guessing. 

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #27 - The Whispering Cat Mystery

First, there was a Devil Mask.  Next, there was a Golden Skull.  Then came the Green Lama.  And now, with book 27 of the Zebra Mystery Puzzler series, readers get the latest mystery involving television reporter Terry Spring.  This is author Ronald Joseph Goulart's fourth entry into the series, writing under the pseudonym "Josephine Kains," and he offers up a wonderfully fun tale of misdirect and red herrings set in New Orleans, Louisiana during the famous Mardi Gras festival.  In fact, I was loving the story so much, I finished the book in less than one day!  I rarely do that with any adult mystery (usually only happens with children's series books, which are much easier reading), but I love Goulart/Kains' characters so much, and I got so wrapped up in figuring out whoddunit in this mystery, that I literally could not put it down until I finished that last chapter!

 

The Whispering Cat Mystery once again opens not with our amateur sleuth, but instead with the psychic visions of Willa Farrway, the young "witch-woman" who lives near the Louisiana swampland on the outskirts of the wealthy Cullen family property.  The visions of the whispering cat were getting stronger, almost overpowering her, and she had yet to figure out what they meant.  Meanwhile, a man makes his way through the mists covering the swamps, finally reaching the cemetery, where he makes his move.  Now, as with Kains' other books in this series, the second chapter shifts the scene to Terry Spring and her friends, cameraman Janiero Chavez and producer Jess Berkeley, as they wrap up another on-the-scene story.  Soon enough, they receive their next assignment - a mini-documentary on the psychic girl who has been helping New Orleans' finest solve some cold cases.  Is she really psychic, or is she a talented fraud with insider information?  Terry and her crew intend to find out.  But the question on Jess's mind is:  will they get involved in yet another murder?  (Well, this is a Zebra Mystery Puzzler, so what do you think?)

 

Kains spends the first half of the book in set-up, as usual, introducing readers to the various players in this drama.  Laura Daventry Cullen is the wealthy socialite, who pretty much has her hand in everything in the area, and who married her jock of a husband, Chip Cullen, for unknown reasons.  Marcus Keaton, Laura's first love, has never gotten over her and has turned to the bottle for comfort.  Chip Cullen is trying to put together a spectacular jazz show for Mardi Gras, but he is frustrated with how tightly his wife is keeping those purse strings.  Jake Gossage is the local news celebrity who takes an instant liking to Terry - and also warns her to tread lightly around Willa Farrway's psychic abilities, as Willa is a personal friend of Laura Cullen, and bad publicity for Willa could result in bad consequences for Terry!  But Terry is not one to be intimidated, and she will only report the truth, whatever that turns out to be.

 

A painting of a black cat, one paw raised, seems to be Willa's way of releasing her visions - if they keep coming, then she paints them on canvas in the hope it will finally give her some understanding.  Only, this cat will not go away.  Not even when Chip Cullen's dead body turns up in Willa's living room one night, having been strangled by a lady's scarf.  A scarf that belongs to one Jennifer Claxton, the fashion editor for the local news, who was seen that very morning wearing the same scarf while having a rather heated discussion with the deceased.  But she is not the only one with a grudge against Chip Cullen.  Marcus blames him for stealing Laura away from him.  Willa has always been at odds with him, as he never believed in her abilities.  Laura was tired of him, blaming him for her brother running away a year or so ago.  So, which one of them finally did him in?  Or did Laura's brother return home and end his brother-in-law's life?  Although the local law tells her to stay out of it, Terry Spring is on the case, and before too long, she discovers a second body - one murdered long before this one, but whose death is directly linked to the current murder.  And as far as that whispering cat goes?  Well, let's just way that when Terry finds the location of that cat, it reveals quite the story...

 

Goulart/Kains must be given credit - he knows how to throw out those red herrings to keep you guessing as to the killer's identity.  One very obvious clue on the cover art had me believing it was one person, until nearly 3/4 of the way through, when another character made a passing comment that immediately contradicted an earlier scene - meaning my first suspect was wrong, and this was, indeed, the real culprit.  Plus, there was a certain cat scratch that gave the killer away, since Willa's pet cat has a tendency to scratch anyone except Willa, as Chavez quickly learns on their first visit to Willa's home.  Thus, the ultimate solution is not extremely difficult to figure out, but it's all in the fun of getting there that makes the story so enjoyable.  Plus, the whole Mardi Gras parade and chase scene had me remembering the Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew television crossover, "Voodoo Doll," which aired in February 1978 and introduced viewers to the "new" Nancy Drew (Janet Louise Johnson) during a Mardi Gras-themed mystery in New Orleans.

 

And speaking of Nancy Drew, I cannot get over how much Terry and her friends remind me of Nancy Drew and her friends.  Terry, obviously, is the Nancy Drew character, while Chavez takes on the Bess persona (loves food and is always falling in love) and Jess is the George of this series (being more health-conscious and even sporting a boy's name).  The three always work well together in solving mysteries, and Goulart/Kains even plays on the old series book format of referring back to previous mysteries (check out page 15, where Jess reminds Terry of "that witchcraft business in Grimshaw and the voodoo island thing and that haunted out out on the West," which refer to Devil Mask Mystery, The Curse of the Golden Skull, and The Green Lama Mystery, respectively).  This only adds to the fun of reading these books!

 

With no credit given to the cover artist, I have no clue who painted the scene; however, there are two major clues on there - one of which is a misdirect, while the other is definitely a giveaway for the killer.  The internal illustrations, though, are once again provided by Sanford Hoffman, who has provided interiors for at least seven of these first 27 mysteries.  His line art is always so beautifully rendered, and for some odd reason, I love the fat that he outlines most of his scenes with a thick black line, which is sometimes broken by a character or piece of scenery that "crosses the line," if you'll pardon the pun.  One of the illustrations (p. 140) is a bit weird, though, as it is supposed to depict Willa's own drawing of an unusual coffin she sees in her latest vision; however, based on Hoffman's representation of that drawing, how could Willa not immediately recognize it for what it actually is?  (And it clearly points to the killer's identity, which is why I'm not about to reveal what it is here!)

 

Twenty-seven books into this series, and I have not really been let down yet.  Sure, some are better than others, but none of them have been down right awful, and while a few have been pretty easy to figure out early on, they are still great reads, and I look forward to the remaining 33 books left in the series!

 

RATING:  9 pretty little faded roses out of 10 for throwing in a bit of ESP without letting it overpower the story or be used as a cop-out for solving the mystery!